Democratic lawmakers wear blue in show of solidarity with Israeli hostages

A group of at least nine Democratic lawmakers wore blue attire at the Capitol on Wednesday to express solidarity with the Israeli hostages still being held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas. 

“I wore blue today with my colleagues to stand in solidarity with the Israeli hostages because enough is enough,” Rep. Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.) wrote Wednesday in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “It’s time we bring back the hostages. And we will wear blue every Wednesday until the hostages are released.”

The Florida Democrat attached a photo of herself sporting a blue pantsuit, alongside her party colleagues including Democratic Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.), Emilia Strong Sykes (Ohio), Debbie Dingell (Mich.), Dan Goldman (N.Y.), Kathy Manning (N.C.), Jennifer McClellan (Va.), Nikema Williams (Ga.) and Brad Schneider (Ill.) 

Families of the hostages still held by Hamas appeared Wednesday alongside a group of bipartisan House lawmakers, including Wasserman Schultz, in a call on the militant group to release the hostages ahead of Thursday’s State of The Union. 

Wasserman Shultz emphasized it is up to Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, to accept a temporary cease-fire deal that Israel reportedly agreed to over the weekend.

“The ball is in Hamas’s court here,” Wasserman Schultz said during the press conference Wednesday. “We have to tell Hamas to accept this deal right now.” 

If Hamas accepts, the deal would include a six-week cease-fire, and Hamas would release hostages considered at risk, according to the U.S. official. It would also pave the way for a larger influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza, which has been devastated by Israel’s military operations. 

More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, and hundreds of thousands of others have been driven from their homes as Israel attempts to eliminate Hamas after the terrorist group’s attack on Oct. 7 that killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel. An estimated 240 people were taken hostage by Hamas during the Oct. 7 attacks, about 100 of whom were released during a weeklong cease-fire late last year. 

The families of the hostages also asked lawmakers and their staffs to wear yellow ribbons and dog tags to show solidarity during President Biden’s State of the Union address. 

Several Democrats have recently upped calls for a cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war, with members of the progressive flank publicly criticizing Biden for his handling of the conflict.